Deactivation Timer for a Secondary Cell with a Control Channel

ABSTRACT

A wireless device receives configuration parameters of cells grouped into physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups. The PUCCH groups comprise a secondary PUCCH group. The secondary PUCCH group comprises a PUCCH secondary cell with a secondary PUCCH. A deactivation timer of the PUCCH secondary cell is restarts in response to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on any secondary cell, other than the PUCCH secondary cell, in the secondary PUCCH group indicating an uplink grant or a downlink assignment. The PUCCH secondary cell is deactivated in response to the deactivation timer expiring.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/055,648, filed Jul. 26, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/055,648, filed Feb. 29, 2016, which claims thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/130,526, filed Mar. 9,2015, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Examples of several of the various embodiments of the present inventionare described herein with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting example sets of OFDM subcarriers as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting an example transmission time and receptiontime for two carriers in a carrier group as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting OFDM radio resources as per an aspect ofan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a base station and a wireless device as peran aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D are example diagrams for uplinkand downlink signal transmission as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 6 is an example diagram for a protocol structure with CA and DC asper an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an example diagram for a protocol structure with CA and DC asper an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows example TAG configurations as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an example message flow in a random access process in asecondary TAG as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 10 is an example grouping of cells into PUCCH groups as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates example groupings of cells into one or more PUCCHgroups and one or more TAGs as per an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates example groupings of cells into one or more PUCCHgroups and one or more TAGs as per an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 13 is an example MAC PDU as per an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 14 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 15 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Example embodiments of the present invention enable operation ofmultiple physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups. Embodiments ofthe technology disclosed herein may be employed in the technical fieldof multicarrier communication systems. More particularly, theembodiments of the technology disclosed herein may relate to operationof PUCCH groups.

-   -   The following Acronyms are used throughout the present        disclosure:    -   ASIC application-specific integrated circuit    -   BPSK binary phase shift keying    -   CA carrier aggregation    -   CSI channel state information    -   CDMA code division multiple access    -   CSS common search space    -   CPLD complex programmable logic devices    -   CC component carrier    -   DL downlink    -   DCI downlink control information    -   DC dual connectivity    -   EPC evolved packet core    -   E-UTRAN evolved-universal terrestrial radio access network    -   FPGA field programmable gate arrays    -   FDD frequency division multiplexing    -   HDL hardware description languages    -   HARQ hybrid automatic repeat request    -   IE information element    -   LTE long term evolution    -   MCG master cell group    -   MeNB master evolved node B    -   MIB master information block    -   MAC media access control    -   MAC media access control    -   MME mobility management entity    -   NAS non-access stratum    -   OFDM orthogonal frequency division multiplexing    -   PDCP packet data convergence protocol    -   PDU packet data unit    -   PHY physical    -   PDCCH physical downlink control channel    -   PHICH physical HARQ indicator channel    -   PUCCH physical uplink control channel    -   PUSCH physical uplink shared channel    -   PCell primary cell    -   PCell primary cell    -   PCC primary component carrier    -   PSCell primary secondary cell    -   pTAG primary timing advance group    -   QAM quadrature amplitude modulation    -   QPSK quadrature phase shift keying    -   RBG Resource Block Groups    -   RLC radio link control    -   RRC radio resource control    -   RA random access    -   RB resource blocks    -   SCC secondary component carrier    -   SCell secondary cell    -   Scell secondary cells    -   SCG secondary cell group    -   SeNB secondary evolved node B    -   sTAGs secondary timing advance group    -   SDU service data unit    -   S-GW serving gateway    -   SRB signaling radio bearer    -   SC-OFDM single carrier-OFDM    -   SFN system frame number    -   SIB system information block    -   TAI tracking area identifier    -   TAT time alignment timer    -   TDD time division duplexing    -   TDMA time division multiple access    -   TA timing advance    -   TAG timing advance group    -   TB transport block    -   UL uplink    -   UE user equipment    -   VHDL VHSIC hardware description language

Example embodiments of the invention may be implemented using variousphysical layer modulation and transmission mechanisms. Exampletransmission mechanisms may include, but are not limited to: CDMA, OFDM,TDMA, Wavelet technologies, and/or the like. Hybrid transmissionmechanisms such as TDMA/CDMA, and OFDM/CDMA may also be employed.Various modulation schemes may be applied for signal transmission in thephysical layer. Examples of modulation schemes include, but are notlimited to: phase, amplitude, code, a combination of these, and/or thelike. An example radio transmission method may implement QAM using BPSK,QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, and/or the like. Physical radiotransmission may be enhanced by dynamically or semi-dynamically changingthe modulation and coding scheme depending on transmission requirementsand radio conditions.

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting example sets of OFDM subcarriers as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in thisexample, arrow(s) in the diagram may depict a subcarrier in amulticarrier OFDM system. The OFDM system may use technology such asOFDM technology, SC-OFDM technology, or the like. For example, arrow 101shows a subcarrier transmitting information symbols. FIG. 1 is forillustration purposes, and a typical multicarrier OFDM system mayinclude more subcarriers in a carrier. For example, the number ofsubcarriers in a carrier may be in the range of 10 to 10,000subcarriers. FIG. 1 shows two guard bands 106 and 107 in a transmissionband. As illustrated in FIG. 1, guard band 106 is between subcarriers103 and subcarriers 104. The example set of subcarriers A 102 includessubcarriers 103 and subcarriers 104. FIG. 1 also illustrates an exampleset of subcarriers B 105. As illustrated, there is no guard band betweenany two subcarriers in the example set of subcarriers B 105. Carriers ina multicarrier OFDM communication system may be contiguous carriers,non-contiguous carriers, or a combination of both contiguous andnon-contiguous carriers.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting an example transmission time and receptiontime for two carriers as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentinvention. A multicarrier OFDM communication system may include one ormore carriers, for example, ranging from 1 to 10 carriers. Carrier A 204and carrier B 205 may have the same or different timing structures.Although FIG. 2 shows two synchronized carriers, carrier A 204 andcarrier B 205 may or may not be synchronized with each other. Differentradio frame structures may be supported for FDD and TDD duplexmechanisms. FIG. 2 shows an example FDD frame timing. Downlink anduplink transmissions may be organized into radio frames 201. In thisexample, radio frame duration is 10 msec. Other frame durations, forexample, in the range of 1 to 100 msec may also be supported. In thisexample, each 10 ms radio frame 201 may be divided into ten equallysized subframes 202. Other subframe durations such as including 0.5msec, 1 msec, 2 msec, and 5 msec may also be supported. Subframe(s) mayconsist of two or more slots (e.g. slots 206 and 207). For the exampleof FDD, 10 subframes may be available for downlink transmission and 10subframes may be available for uplink transmissions in each 10 msinterval. Uplink and downlink transmissions may be separated in thefrequency domain. Slot(s) may include a plurality of OFDM symbols 203.The number of OFDM symbols 203 in a slot 206 may depend on the cyclicprefix length and subcarrier spacing.

FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting OFDM radio resources as per an aspect ofan embodiment of the present invention. The resource grid structure intime 304 and frequency 305 is illustrated in FIG. 3. The quantity ofdownlink subcarriers or RBs (in this example 6 to 100 RBs) may depend,at least in part, on the downlink transmission bandwidth 306 configuredin the cell. The smallest radio resource unit may be called a resourceelement (e.g. 301). Resource elements may be grouped into resourceblocks (e.g. 302). Resource blocks may be grouped into larger radioresources called Resource Block Groups (RBG) (e.g. 303). The transmittedsignal in slot 206 may be described by one or several resource grids ofa plurality of subcarriers and a plurality of OFDM symbols. Resourceblocks may be used to describe the mapping of certain physical channelsto resource elements. Other pre-defined groupings of physical resourceelements may be implemented in the system depending on the radiotechnology. For example, 24 subcarriers may be grouped as a radio blockfor a duration of 5 msec. In an illustrative example, a resource blockmay correspond to one slot in the time domain and 180 kHz in thefrequency domain (for 15 KHz subcarrier bandwidth and 12 subcarriers).

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D are example diagrams for uplinkand downlink signal transmission as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. FIG. 5A shows an example uplink physical channel.The baseband signal representing the physical uplink shared channel mayperform the following processes. These functions are illustrated asexamples and it is anticipated that other mechanisms may be implementedin various embodiments. The functions may comprise scrambling,modulation of scrambled bits to generate complex-valued symbols, mappingof the complex-valued modulation symbols onto one or severaltransmission layers, transform precoding to generate complex-valuedsymbols, precoding of the complex-valued symbols, mapping of precodedcomplex-valued symbols to resource elements, generation ofcomplex-valued time-domain SC-FDMA signal for each antenna port, and/orthe like.

Example modulation and up-conversion to the carrier frequency of thecomplex-valued SC-FDMA baseband signal for each antenna port and/or thecomplex-valued PRACH baseband signal is shown in FIG. 5B. Filtering maybe employed prior to transmission.

An example structure for Downlink Transmissions is shown in FIG. 5C. Thebaseband signal representing a downlink physical channel may perform thefollowing processes. These functions are illustrated as examples and itis anticipated that other mechanisms may be implemented in variousembodiments. The functions include scrambling of coded bits in each ofthe codewords to be transmitted on a physical channel; modulation ofscrambled bits to generate complex-valued modulation symbols; mapping ofthe complex-valued modulation symbols onto one or several transmissionlayers; precoding of the complex-valued modulation symbols on each layerfor transmission on the antenna ports; mapping of complex-valuedmodulation symbols for each antenna port to resource elements;generation of complex-valued time-domain OFDM signal for each antennaport, and/or the like.

Example modulation and up-conversion to the carrier frequency of thecomplex-valued OFDM baseband signal for each antenna port is shown inFIG. 5D. Filtering may be employed prior to transmission.

FIG. 4 is an example block diagram of a base station 401 and a wirelessdevice 406, as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.A communication network 400 may include at least one base station 401and at least one wireless device 406. The base station 401 may includeat least one communication interface 402, at least one processor 403,and at least one set of program code instructions 405 stored innon-transitory memory 404 and executable by the at least one processor403. The wireless device 406 may include at least one communicationinterface 407, at least one processor 408, and at least one set ofprogram code instructions 410 stored in non-transitory memory 409 andexecutable by the at least one processor 408. Communication interface402 in base station 401 may be configured to engage in communicationwith communication interface 407 in wireless device 406 via acommunication path that includes at least one wireless link 411.Wireless link 411 may be a bi-directional link. Communication interface407 in wireless device 406 may also be configured to engage in acommunication with communication interface 402 in base station 401. Basestation 401 and wireless device 406 may be configured to send andreceive data over wireless link 411 using multiple frequency carriers.According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, transceiver(s)may be employed. A transceiver is a device that includes both atransmitter and receiver. Transceivers may be employed in devices suchas wireless devices, base stations, relay nodes, and/or the like.Example embodiments for radio technology implemented in communicationinterface 402, 407 and wireless link 411 are illustrated are FIG. 1,FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 5, and associated text.

An interface may be a hardware interface, a firmware interface, asoftware interface, and/or a combination thereof. The hardware interfacemay include connectors, wires, electronic devices such as drivers,amplifiers, and/or the like. A software interface may include codestored in a memory device to implement protocol(s), protocol layers,communication drivers, device drivers, combinations thereof, and/or thelike. A firmware interface may include a combination of embeddedhardware and code stored in and/or in communication with a memory deviceto implement connections, electronic device operations, protocol(s),protocol layers, communication drivers, device drivers, hardwareoperations, combinations thereof, and/or the like.

The term configured may relate to the capacity of a device whether thedevice is in an operational or non-operational state. Configured mayalso refer to specific settings in a device that effect the operationalcharacteristics of the device whether the device is in an operational ornon-operational state. In other words, the hardware, software, firmware,registers, memory values, and/or the like may be “configured” within adevice, whether the device is in an operational or nonoperational state,to provide the device with specific characteristics. Terms such as “acontrol message to cause in a device” may mean that a control messagehas parameters that may be used to configure specific characteristics inthe device, whether the device is in an operational or non-operationalstate.

According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, an LTE networkmay include a multitude of base stations, providing a user planePDCP/RLC/MAC/PHY and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towardsthe wireless device. The base station(s) may be interconnected withother base station(s) (e.g. employing an X2 interface). The basestations may also be connected employing, for example, an S1 interfaceto an EPC. For example, the base stations may be interconnected to theMME employing the S1-MME interface and to the S-G) employing the S1-Uinterface. The S1 interface may support a many-to-many relation betweenMMEs/Serving Gateways and base stations. A base station may include manysectors for example: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6 sectors. A base station mayinclude many cells, for example, ranging from 1 to 50 cells or more. Acell may be categorized, for example, as a primary cell or secondarycell. At RRC connection establishment/re-establishment/handover, oneserving cell may provide the NAS (non-access stratum) mobilityinformation (e.g. TAI), and at RRC connection re-establishment/handover,one serving cell may provide the security input. This cell may bereferred to as the Primary Cell (PCell). In the downlink, the carriercorresponding to the PCell may be the Downlink Primary Component Carrier(DL PCC), while in the uplink, it may be the Uplink Primary ComponentCarrier (UL PCC). Depending on wireless device capabilities, SecondaryCells (SCells) may be configured to form together with the PCell a setof serving cells. In the downlink, the carrier corresponding to an SCellmay be a Downlink Secondary Component Carrier (DL SCC), while in theuplink, it may be an Uplink Secondary Component Carrier (UL SCC). AnSCell may or may not have an uplink carrier.

A cell, comprising a downlink carrier and optionally an uplink carrier,may be assigned a physical cell ID and a cell index. A carrier (downlinkor uplink) may belong to only one cell. The cell ID or Cell index mayalso identify the downlink carrier or uplink carrier of the cell(depending on the context it is used). In the specification, cell ID maybe equally referred to a carrier ID, and cell index may be referred tocarrier index. In implementation, the physical cell ID or cell index maybe assigned to a cell. A cell ID may be determined using asynchronization signal transmitted on a downlink carrier. A cell indexmay be determined using RRC messages. For example, when thespecification refers to a first physical cell ID for a first downlinkcarrier, the specification may mean the first physical cell ID is for acell comprising the first downlink carrier. The same concept may applyto, for example, carrier activation. When the specification indicatesthat a first carrier is activated, the specification may equally meanthat the cell comprising the first carrier is activated.

Embodiments may be configured to operate as needed. The disclosedmechanism may be performed when certain criteria are met, for example,in a wireless device, a base station, a radio environment, a network, acombination of the above, and/or the like. Example criteria may bebased, at least in part, on for example, traffic load, initial systemset up, packet sizes, traffic characteristics, a combination of theabove, and/or the like. When the one or more criteria are met, variousexample embodiments may be applied. Therefore, it may be possible toimplement example embodiments that selectively implement disclosedprotocols.

A base station may communicate with a mix of wireless devices. Wirelessdevices may support multiple technologies, and/or multiple releases ofthe same technology. Wireless devices may have some specificcapability(ies) depending on its wireless device category and/orcapability(ies). A base station may comprise multiple sectors. When thisdisclosure refers to a base station communicating with a plurality ofwireless devices, this disclosure may refer to a subset of the totalwireless devices in a coverage area. This disclosure may refer to, forexample, a plurality of wireless devices of a given LTE release with agiven capability and in a given sector of the base station. Theplurality of wireless devices in this disclosure may refer to a selectedplurality of wireless devices, and/or a subset of total wireless devicesin a coverage area which perform according to disclosed methods, and/orthe like. There may be a plurality of wireless devices in a coveragearea that may not comply with the disclosed methods, for example,because those wireless devices perform based on older releases of LTEtechnology.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are example diagrams for protocol structure with CAand DC as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.E-UTRAN may support Dual Connectivity (DC) operation whereby a multipleRX/TX UE in RRC_CONNECTED may be configured to utilize radio resourcesprovided by two schedulers located in two eNBs connected via a non-idealbackhaul over the X2 interface. eNBs involved in DC for a certain UE mayassume two different roles: an eNB may either act as an MeNB or as anSeNB. In DC a UE may be connected to one MeNB and one SeNB. Mechanismsimplemented in DC may be extended to cover more than two eNBs. FIG. 7illustrates one example structure for the UE side MAC entities when aMaster Cell Group (MCG) and a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) are configured,and it may not restrict implementation. Media Broadcast MulticastService (MBMS) reception is not shown in this figure for simplicity.

In DC, the radio protocol architecture that a particular bearer uses maydepend on how the bearer is setup. Three alternatives may exist, an MCGbearer, an SCG bearer and a split bearer as shown in FIG. 6. RRC may belocated in MeNB and SRBs may be configured as a MCG bearer type and mayuse the radio resources of the MeNB. DC may also be described as havingat least one bearer configured to use radio resources provided by theSeNB. DC may or may not be configured/implemented in example embodimentsof the invention.

In the case of DC, the UE may be configured with two MAC entities: oneMAC entity for MeNB, and one MAC entity for SeNB. In DC, the configuredset of serving cells for a UE may comprise of two subsets: the MasterCell Group (MCG) containing the serving cells of the MeNB, and theSecondary Cell Group (SCG) containing the serving cells of the SeNB. Fora SCG, one or more of the following may be applied: at least one cell inthe SCG has a configured UL CC and one of them, named PSCell (or PCellof SCG, or sometimes called PCell), is configured with PUCCH resources;when the SCG is configured, there may be at least one SCG bearer or oneSplit bearer; upon detection of a physical layer problem or a randomaccess problem on a PSCell, or the maximum number of RLC retransmissionshas been reached associated with the SCG, or upon detection of an accessproblem on a PSCell during a SCG addition or a SCG change: a RRCconnection re-establishment procedure may not be triggered, ULtransmissions towards cells of the SCG are stopped, a MeNB may beinformed by the UE of a SCG failure type, for split bearer, the DL datatransfer over the MeNB is maintained; the RLC AM bearer may beconfigured for the split bearer; like PCell, PSCell may not bede-activated; PSCell may be changed with a SCG change (e.g. withsecurity key change and a RACH procedure); and/or neither a directbearer type change between a Split bearer and a SCG bearer norsimultaneous configuration of a SCG and a Split bearer are supported.

With respect to the interaction between a MeNB and a SeNB, one or moreof the following principles may be applied: the MeNB may maintain theRRM measurement configuration of the UE and may, (e.g, based on receivedmeasurement reports or traffic conditions or bearer types), decide toask a SeNB to provide additional resources (serving cells) for a UE;upon receiving a request from the MeNB, a SeNB may create a containerthat may result in the configuration of additional serving cells for theUE (or decide that it has no resource available to do so); for UEcapability coordination, the MeNB may provide (part of) the ASconfiguration and the UE capabilities to the SeNB; the MeNB and the SeNBmay exchange information about a UE configuration by employing of RRCcontainers (inter-node messages) carried in X2 messages; the SeNB mayinitiate a reconfiguration of its existing serving cells (e.g., PUCCHtowards the SeNB); the SeNB may decide which cell is the PSCell withinthe SCG; the MeNB may not change the content of the RRC configurationprovided by the SeNB; in the case of a SCG addition and a SCG SCelladdition, the MeNB may provide the latest measurement results for theSCG cell(s); both a MeNB and a SeNB may know the SFN and subframe offsetof each other by OAM, (e.g., for the purpose of DRX alignment andidentification of a measurement gap). In an example, when adding a newSCG SCell, dedicated RRC signalling may be used for sending requiredsystem information of the cell as for CA, except for the SFN acquiredfrom a MIB of the PSCell of a SCG.

According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, serving cellshaving an uplink to which the same time alignment (TA) applies may begrouped in a TA group (TAG). Serving cells in one TAG may use the sametiming reference. For a given TAG, user equipment (UE) may use onedownlink carrier as a timing reference at a given time. The UE may use adownlink carrier in a TAG as a timing reference for that TAG. For agiven TAG, a UE may synchronize uplink subframe and frame transmissiontiming of uplink carriers belonging to the same TAG. According to someof the various aspects of embodiments, serving cells having an uplink towhich the same TA applies may correspond to serving cells hosted by thesame receiver. A TA group may comprise at least one serving cell with aconfigured uplink. A UE supporting multiple TAs may support two or moreTA groups. One TA group may contain the PCell and may be called aprimary TAG (pTAG). In a multiple TAG configuration, at least one TAgroup may not contain the PCell and may be called a secondary TAG(sTAG). Carriers within the same TA group may use the same TA value andthe same timing reference. When DC is configured, cells belonging to acell group (MCG or SCG) may be grouped into multiple TAGs including apTAG and one or more sTAGs.

FIG. 8 shows example TAG configurations as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present invention. In Example 1, pTAG comprises PCell,and an sTAG comprises SCell1. In Example 2, a pTAG comprises a PCell andSCell1, and an sTAG comprises SCell2 and SCell3. In Example 3, pTAGcomprises PCell and SCell1, and an sTAG1 includes SCell2 and SCell3, andsTAG2 comprises SCell4. Up to four TAGs may be supported in a cell group(MCG or SCG) and other example TAG configurations may also be provided.In various examples in this disclosure, example mechanisms are describedfor a pTAG and an sTAG. The operation with one example sTAG isdescribed, and the same operation may be applicable to other sTAGs. Theexample mechanisms may be applied to configurations with multiple sTAGs.

According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, TA maintenance,pathloss reference handling and a timing reference for a pTAG may followLTE release 10 principles in the MCG and/or SCG. The UE may need tomeasure downlink pathloss to calculate uplink transmit power. A pathlossreference may be used for uplink power control and/or transmission ofrandom access preamble(s). UE may measure downlink pathloss usingsignals received on a pathloss reference cell. For SCell(s) in a pTAG,the choice of a pathloss reference for cells may be selected from and/orbe limited to the following two options: a) the downlink SCell linked toan uplink SCell using system information block 2 (SIB2), and b) thedownlink pCell. The pathloss reference for SCells in a pTAG may beconfigurable using RRC message(s) as a part of an SCell initialconfiguration and/or reconfiguration. According to some of the variousaspects of embodiments, a PhysicalConfigDedicatedSCell informationelement (IE) of an SCell configuration may include a pathloss referenceSCell (downlink carrier) for an SCell in a pTAG. The downlink SCelllinked to an uplink SCell using system information block 2 (SIB2) may bereferred to as the SIB2 linked downlink of the SCell. Different TAGs mayoperate in different bands. For an uplink carrier in an sTAG, thepathloss reference may be only configurable to the downlink SCell linkedto an uplink SCell using the system information block 2 (SIB2) of theSCell.

To obtain initial uplink (UL) time alignment for an sTAG, an eNB mayinitiate an RA procedure. In an sTAG, a UE may use one of any activatedSCells from this sTAG as a timing reference cell. In an exampleembodiment, the timing reference for SCells in an sTAG may be the SIB2linked downlink of the SCell on which the preamble for the latest RAprocedure was sent. There may be one timing reference and one timealignment timer (TAT) per TA group. A TAT for TAGs may be configuredwith different values. I n a MAC entity, when a TAT associated with apTAG expires: all TATs may be considered as expired, the UE may flushHARQ buffers of serving cells, the UE may clear any configured downlinkassignment/uplink grants, and the RRC in the UE may release PUCCH/SRSfor all configured serving cells. When the pTAG TAT is not running, ansTAG TAT may not be running. When the TAT associated with an sTAGexpires: a) SRS transmissions may be stopped on the correspondingSCells, b) SRS RRC configuration may be released, c) CSI reportingconfiguration for corresponding SCells may be maintained, and/or d) theMAC in the UE may flush the uplink HARQ buffers of the correspondingSCells.

An eNB may initiate an RA procedure via a PDCCH order for an activatedSCell. This PDCCH order may be sent on a scheduling cell of this SCell.When cross carrier scheduling is configured for a cell, the schedulingcell may be different than the cell that is employed for preambletransmission, and the PDCCH order may include an SCell index. At least anon-contention based RA procedure may be supported for SCell(s) assignedto sTAG(s).

FIG. 9 is an example message flow in a random access process in asecondary TAG as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentinvention. An eNB transmits an activation command 600 to activate anSCell. A preamble 602 (Msg1) may be sent by a UE in response to a PDCCHorder 601 on an SCell belonging to an sTAG. In an example embodiment,preamble transmission for SCells may be controlled by the network usingPDCCH format 1A. Msg2 message 603 (RAR: random access response) inresponse to the preamble transmission on the SCell may be addressed toRA-RNTI in a PCell common search space (CSS). Uplink packets 604 may betransmitted on the SCell in which the preamble was transmitted.

According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, initial timingalignment may be achieved through a random access procedure. This mayinvolve a UE transmitting a random access preamble and an eNB respondingwith an initial TA command NTA (amount of timing advance) within arandom access response window. The start of the random access preamblemay be aligned with the start of a corresponding uplink subframe at theUE assuming NTA=0. The eNB may estimate the uplink timing from therandom access preamble transmitted by the UE. The TA command may bederived by the eNB based on the estimation of the difference between thedesired UL timing and the actual UL timing. The UE may determine theinitial uplink transmission timing relative to the correspondingdownlink of the sTAG on which the preamble is transmitted.

The mapping of a serving cell to a TAG may be configured by a servingeNB with RRC signaling. The mechanism for TAG configuration andreconfiguration may be based on RRC signaling. According to some of thevarious aspects of embodiments, when an eNB performs an SCell additionconfiguration, the related TAG configuration may be configured for theSCell. In an example embodiment, an eNB may modify the TAG configurationof an SCell by removing (releasing) the SCell and adding(configuring) anew SCell (with the same physical cell ID and frequency) with an updatedTAG ID. The new SCell with the updated TAG ID may initially be inactivesubsequent to being assigned the updated TAG ID. The eNB may activatethe updated new SCell and start scheduling packets on the activatedSCell. In an example implementation, it may not be possible to changethe TAG associated with an SCell, but rather, the SCell may need to beremoved and a new SCell may need to be added with another TAG. Forexample, if there is a need to move an SCell from an sTAG to a pTAG, atleast one RRC message, for example, at least one RRC reconfigurationmessage, may be send to the UE to reconfigure TAG configurations byreleasing the SCell and then configuring the SCell as a part of the pTAG(when an SCell is added/configured without a TAG index, the SCell may beexplicitly assigned to the pTAG). The PCell may not change its TA groupand may always be a member of the pTAG.

The purpose of an RRC connection reconfiguration procedure may be tomodify an RRC connection, (e.g. to establish, modify and/or release RBs,to perform handover, to setup, modify, and/or release measurements, toadd, modify, and/or release SCells). If the received RRC ConnectionReconfiguration message includes the sCellToReleaseList, the UE mayperform an SCell release. If the received RRC Connection Reconfigurationmessage includes the sCellToAddModList, the UE may perform SCelladditions or modification.

In LTE Release-10 and Release-11 CA, a PUCCH is only transmitted on thePCell (PSCell) to an eNB. In LTE-Release 12 and earlier, a UE maytransmit PUCCH information on one cell (PCell or PSCell) to a given eNB.

As the number of CA capable UEs and also the number of aggregatedcarriers increase, the number of PUCCHs and also the PUCCH payload sizemay increase. Accommodating the PUCCH transmissions on the PCell maylead to a high PUCCH load on the PCell. A PUCCH on an SCell may beintroduced to offload the PUCCH resource from the PCell. More than onePUCCH may be configured for example, a PUCCH on a PCell and anotherPUCCH on an SCell. FIG. 10 is an example grouping of cells into PUCCHgroups as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention. Inthe example embodiments, one, two or more cells may be configured withPUCCH resources for transmitting CSI/ACK/NACK to a base station. Cellsmay be grouped into multiple PUCCH groups, and one or more cell within agroup may be configured with a PUCCH. In an example configuration, oneSCell may belong to one PUCCH group. SCells with a configured PUCCHtransmitted to a base station may be called a PUCCH SCell, and a cellgroup with a common PUCCH resource transmitted to the same base stationmay be called a PUCCH group.

In Release-12, a PUCCH can be configured on a PCell and/or a PSCell, butcannot be configured on other SCells. In an example embodiment, a UE maytransmit a message indicating that the UE supports PUCCH configurationon a PCell and SCell. Such an indication may be separate from anindication of of dual connectivity support by the UE. In an exampleembodiment, a UE may support both DC and PUCCH groups. In an exampleembodiment, either DC or PUCCH groups may be configured, but not both.In another example embodiment, more complicated configurationscomprising both DC and PUCCH groups may be supported.

When a UE is capable of configuring PUCCH groups, and if a UE indicatesthat it supports simultaneous PUCCH/PUSCH transmission capability, itmay imply that the UE supports simultaneous PUCCH/PUSCH transmission onboth PCell and SCell. When multiple PUCCH groups are configured, a PUCCHmay be configured or not configured with simultaneous PUCCH/PUSCHtransmission.

In an example embodiment, PUCCH transmission to a base station on twoserving cells may be realized as shown in FIG. 10. A first group ofcells may employ a PUCCH on the PCell and may be called PUCCH group 1 ora primary PUCCH group. A second group of cells may employ a PUCCH on anSCell and may be called PUCCH group 2 or a secondary PUCCH group. One,two or more PUCCH groups may be configured. In an example, cells may begrouped into two PUCCH groups, and each PUCCH group may include a cellwith PUCCH resources. A PCell may provide PUCCH resources for theprimary PUCCH group and an SCell in the secondary PUCCH group mayprovide PUCCH resources for the cells in the secondary PUCCH group. Inan example embodiment, no cross-carrier scheduling between cells indifferent PUCCH groups may be configured. When cross-carrier schedulingbetween cells in different PUCCH groups is not configured, ACK/NACK onPHICH channel may be limited within a PUCCH group. Both downlink anduplink scheduling activity may be separate between cells belonging todifferent PUCCH groups.

A PUCCH on an SCell may carry HARQ-ACK and CSI information. A PCell maybe configured with PUCCH resources. In an example embodiment, RRCparameters for an SCell PUCCH Power Control for a PUCCH on an SCell maybe different from those of a PCell PUCCH. A Transmit Power Controlcommand for a PUCCH on an SCell may be transmitted in DCI(s) on theSCell carrying the PUCCH.

UE procedures on a PUCCH transmission may be different and/orindependent between PUCCH groups. For example, determination of DLHARQ-ACK timing, PUCCH resource determination for HARQ-ACK and/or CSI,Higher-layer configuration of simultaneous HARQ-ACK+CSI on a PUCCH,Higher-layer configuration of simultaneous HARQ-ACK+SRS in one subframemay be configured differently for a PUCCH PCell and a PUCCH SCell.

A PUCCH group may be a group of serving cells configured by a RRC anduse the same serving cell in the group for transmission of a PUCCH. APrimary PUCCH group may be a PUCCH group containing a PCell. A secondaryPUCCH group may be a PUCCH cell group not containing the PCell. In anexample embodiment, an SCell may belong to one PUCCH group. When oneSCell belongs to a PUCCH group, ACK/NACK or CSI for that SCell may betransmitted over the PUCCH in that PUCCH group (over PUCCH SCell orPUCCH PCell). A PUCCH on an SCell may reduce the PUCCH load on thePCell. A PUCCH SCell may be employed for UCI transmission of SCells inthe corresponding PUCCH group.

In an example embodiment, a flexible PUCCH configuration in whichcontrol signalling is sent on one, two or more PUCCHs may be possible.Beside the PCell, it may be possible to configure a selected number ofSCells for PUCCH transmission (herein called PUCCH SCells). Controlsignalling information conveyed in a certain PUCCH SCell may be relatedto a set of SCells in a corresponding PUCCH group that are configured bythe network via RRC signalling.

PUCCH control signalling carried by a PUCCH channel may be distributedbetween a PCell and SCells for off-loading or robustness purposes. Byenabling a PUCCH in an SCell, it may be possible to distribute theoverall CSI reports for a given UE between a PCell and a selected numberof SCells (e.g. PUCCH SCells), thereby limiting PUCCH CSI resourceconsumption by a given UE on a certain cell. It may be possible to mapCSI reports for a certain SCell to a selected PUCCH SCell. An SCell maybe assigned a certain periodicity and time-offset for transmission ofcontrol information. Periodic CSI for a serving cell may be mapped on aPUCCH (on the PCell or on a PUCCH-SCell) via RRC signalling. Thepossibility of distributing CSI reports, HARQ feedbacks, and/orScheduling Requests across PUCCH SCells may provide flexibility andcapacity improvements. HARQ feedback for a serving cell may be mapped ona PUCCH (on the PCell or on a PUCCH SCell) via RRC signalling.

In example embodiments, PUCCH transmission may be configured on a PCell,as well as one SCell in CA. An SCell PUCCH may be realized using theconcept of PUCCH groups, where aggregated cells are grouped into two ormore PUCCH groups. One cell from a PUCCH group may be configured tocarry a PUCCH. More than 5 carriers may be configured. In the exampleembodiments, up to n carriers may be aggregated. For example, n may be16, 32, or 64. Some CCs may have non-backward compatible configurationssupporting only advanced UEs (e.g. support licensed assisted accessSCells). In an example embodiment, one SCell PUCCH (e.g. two PUCCHgroups) may be supported. In another example embodiment, a PUCCH groupconcept with multiple (more than one) SCells carrying PUCCH may beemployed(e.g., there can be more than two PUCCH groups).

In an example embodiment, a given PUCCH group may not comprise servingcells of both MCG and SCG. One of the PUCCHs may be configured on thePCell. In an example embodiment, PUCCH mapping of serving cells may beconfigured by RRC messages. In an example embodiment, a maximum value ofan SCelllndex and a ServCelllndex may be 31 (ranging from 0 to 31). Inan example, a maximum value of stag-Id may be 3. The CIF for a scheduledcell may be configured explicitly. A PUCCH SCell may be configured bygiving a PUCCH configuration for an SCell. A HARQ feedback and CSIreport of a PUCCH SCell may be sent on the PUCCH of that PUCCH SCell.The HARQ feedback and CSI report of a SCell may sent on a PUCCH of aPCell if no PUCCH SCell is signalled for that SCell. The HARQ feedbackand CSI report of an SCell may be sent on the PUCCH of one PUCCH SCell;hence they may not be sent on the PUCCH of different PUCCH SCell. The UEmay report a Type 2 PH for serving cells configured with a PUCCH. In anexample embodiment, a MAC activation/deactivation may be supported for aPUCCH SCell. An eNB may manage the activation/deactivation status forSCells. A newly added PUCCH SCell may be initially deactivated.

In an example embodiment, independent configuration of PUCCH groups andTAGs may be supported. FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 show example configurationsof TAGs and PUCCH groups. For example, one TAG may contain multipleserving cells with a PUCCH. For example, each TAG may only comprisecells of one PUCCH group. For example, a TAG may comprise the servingcells (without a PUCCH) which belong to different PUCCH groups.

There may not be a one-to-one mapping between TAGs and PUCCH groups. Forexample, in a configuration, a PUCCH SCell may belong to primary TAG. Inan example implementation, the serving cells of one PUCCH group may bein different TAGs and serving cells of one TAG may be in different PUCCHgroups. Configuration of PUCCH groups and TAGs may be left to eNBimplementation. In another example implementation, restriction(s) on theconfiguration of a PUCCH cell may be specified. For example, in anexample embodiment, cells in a given PUCCH group may belong to the sameTAG. In an example, an sTAG may only comprise cells of one PUCCH group.In an example, one-to-one mapping between TAGs and PUCCH groups may beimplemented. In implementation, cell configurations may be limited tosome of the examples. In other implementations, some or all the belowconfigurations may be allowed.

In an example embodiment, for an SCell in a pTAG, the timing referencemay be a PCell. For an SCell in an sTAG, the timing reference may be anyactivated SCell in the sTAG. For an SCell (configured with PUCCH or not)in a pTAG, a pathloss reference may be configured to be a PCell or anSIB-2 linked SCell. For an SCell in a sTAG, the pathloss reference maybe the SIB-2 linked SCell. When a TAT associated with a pTAG is expired,the TAT associated with sTAGs may be considered as expired. When a TATof an sTAG containing PUCCH SCell expires, the MAC may indicate to anRRC to release PUCCH resource for the PUCCH group. When the TAT of ansTAG containing a PUCCH SCell is not running, the uplink transmission(PUSCH) for SCells in the secondary PUCCH group not belonging to thesTAG including the PUCCH SCell may not be impacted. The TAT expiry of ansTAG containing a PUCCH SCell may not trigger TAT expiry of other TAGsto which other SCells in the same PUCCH group belong. When the TATassociated with sTAG not containing a PUCCH SCell is not running, thewireless device may stop the uplink transmission for the SCell in thesTAG and may not impact other TAGs.

In an example embodiment, a MAC entity may have a configurable timertimeAlignmentTimer per TAG. The timeAlignmentTimer may be used tocontrol how long the MAC entity considers the Serving Cells belonging tothe associated TAG to be uplink time aligned. The MAC entity may, when aTiming Advance Command MAC control element is received, apply the TimingAdvance Command for the indicated TAG; start or restart thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with the indicated TAG. The MAC entitymay, when a Timing Advance Command is received in a Random AccessResponse message for a serving cell belonging to a TAG and/or if theRandom Access Preamble was not selected by the MAC entity, apply theTiming Advance Command for this TAG and start or restart thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAG. Otherwise, if thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAG is not running, the TimingAdvance Command for this TAG may be applied and the timeAlignmentTimerassociated with this TAG started. When the contention resolution isconsidered not successful, a timeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAGmay be stopped. Otherwise, the MAC entity may ignore the received TimingAdvance Command.

Example embodiments of the invention may enable operation of multiplePUCCH groups. Other example embodiments may comprise a non-transitorytangible computer readable media comprising instructions executable byone or more processors to cause operation of PUCCH groups. Yet otherexample embodiments may comprise an article of manufacture thatcomprises a non-transitory tangible computer readable machine-accessiblemedium having instructions encoded thereon for enabling programmablehardware to cause a device (e.g. wireless communicator, UE, basestation, etc.) to enable operation of PUCCH groups. The device mayinclude processors, memory, interfaces, and/or the like. Other exampleembodiments may comprise communication networks comprising devices suchas base stations, wireless devices (or user equipment: UE), servers,switches, antennas, and/or the like. In an example embodiment one ormore TAGs may be configured along with PUCCH group configuration.

FIG. 13 is an example MAC PDU as per an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent invention. In an example embodiment, a MAC PDU may comprise of aMAC header, zero or more MAC Service Data Units (MAC SDU), zero or moreMAC control elements, and optionally padding. The MAC header and the MACSDUs may be of variable sizes. A MAC PDU header may comprise one or moreMAC PDU subheaders. A subheader may correspond to either a MAC SDU, aMAC control element or padding. A MAC PDU subheader may comprise headerfields R, F2, E, LCID, F, and/or L. The last subheader in the MAC PDUand subheaders for fixed sized MAC control elements may comprise thefour header fields R, F2, E, and/or LCID. A MAC PDU subheadercorresponding to padding may comprise the four header fields R, F2, E,and/or LCID.

In an example embodiment, LCID or Logical Channel ID field may identifythe logical channel instance of the corresponding MAC SDU or the type ofthe corresponding MAC control element or padding. There may be one LCIDfield for a MAC SDU, MAC control element or padding included in the MACPDU. In addition to that, one or two additional LCID fields may beincluded in the MAC PDU when single-byte or two-byte padding is requiredbut cannot be achieved by padding at the end of the MAC PDU. The LCIDfield size may be, e.g. 5 bits. L or the Length field may indicate thelength of the corresponding MAC SDU or variable-sized MAC controlelement in bytes. There may be one L field per MAC PDU subheader exceptfor the last subheader and subheaders corresponding to fixed-sized MACcontrol elements. The size of the L field may be indicated by the Ffield and F2 field. The F or the Format field may indicate the size ofthe Length field. There may be one F field per MAC PDU subheader exceptfor the last subheader and subheaders corresponding to fixed-sized MACcontrol elements and expect for when F2 is set to 1. The size of the Ffield may be 1 bit. In an example, if the F field is included, and/or ifthe size of the MAC SDU or variable-sized MAC control element is lessthan 128 bytes, the value of the F field is set to 0, otherwise it isset to 1. The F2 or the Format2 field may indicate the size of theLength field. There may be one F2 field per MAC PDU subheader. The sizeof the F2 field may be 1 bit. In an example, if the size of the MAC SDUor variable-sized MAC control element is larger than 32767 bytes and ifthe corresponding subheader is not the last subheader, the value of theF2 field may be set to 1, otherwise it is set to 0. The E or theExtension field may be a flag indicating if more fields are present inthe MAC header or not. The E field may be set to “1” to indicate anotherset of at least R/F2/E/LCID fields. The E field may be set to “0” toindicate that either a MAC SDU, a MAC control element or padding startsat the next byte. R or reserved bit, set to “0”.

MAC PDU subheaders may have the same order as the corresponding MACSDUs, MAC control elements and padding. MAC control elements may beplaced before any MAC SDU. Padding may occur at the end of the MAC PDU,except when single-byte or two-byte padding is required. Padding mayhave any value and the MAC entity may ignore it. When padding isperformed at the end of the MAC PDU, zero or more padding bytes may beallowed. When single-byte or two-byte padding is required, one or twoMAC PDU subheaders corresponding to padding may be placed at thebeginning of the MAC PDU before any other MAC PDU subheader. In anexample, a maximum of one MAC PDU may be transmitted per TB per MACentity, a maximum of one MCH MAC PDU can be transmitted per TTI.

At least one RRC message may provide configuration parameters for atleast one cell and configuration parameters for PUCCH groups. Theinformation elements in one or more RRC messages may provide mappingbetween configured cells and PUCCH SCells. Cells may be grouped into aplurality of cell groups and a cell may be assigned to one of theconfigured PUCCH groups. There may be a one-to-one relationship betweenPUCCH groups and cells with configured PUCCH resources. At least one RRCmessage may provide mapping between an SCell and a PUCCH group, andPUCCH configuration on PUCCH SCell.

System information (common parameters) for an SCell may be carried in aRadioResourceConfigCommonSCell in a dedicated RRC message. Some of thePUCCH related information may be included in common information of anSCell (e.g. in the RadioResourceConfigCommonSCell). Dedicatedconfiguration parameters of SCell and PUCCH resources may be configuredby dedicated RRC signaling using, for example,RadioResourceConfigDedicatedSCell.

The IE PUCCH-ConfigCommon and IE PUCCH-ConfigDedicated may be used tospecify the common and the UE specific PUCCH configuration respectively.

In an example, PUCCH-ConfigCommon may include: deltaPUCCH-Shift:ENUMERATED {ds1, ds2, ds3}; nRB-CQI: INTEGER (0..98); nCS-AN: INTEGER(0..7); and/or n1PUCCH-AN: INTEGER (0..2047). The parameterdeltaPUCCH-Shift (Δ_(shift) ^(PUCCH)),nRB-CQI (N_(RB) ⁽²⁾), nCS-An(N_(es) ⁽¹⁾), and n1PUCCH-AN (N_(PUCCH) ⁽¹⁾) may be physical layerparameters of PUCCH.

PUCCH-ConfigDedicated may be employed. PUCCH-ConfigDedicated mayinclude: ackNackRepetition CHOICE{release: NULL, setup: SEQUENCE{repetitionFactor: ENUMERATED {n2, n4, n6, sparel},n1PUCCH-AN-Rep:INTEGER (0..2047)}}, tdd-AckNackFeedbackMode: ENUMERATED {bundling,multiplexing} OPTIONAL}. ackNackRepetitionj parameter indicates whetherACK/NACK repetition is configured. n2 corresponds to repetition factor2, n4 to 4 for repetitionFactor parameter (N_(ANRep)). n1PUCCH-AN-Repparameter may be n_(PUCCH,ANRep) ^((1,p)) for antenna port P0 and forantenna port P1. dd-AckNackFeedbackMode parameter may indicate one ofthe TDD ACK/NACK feedback modes used. The value bundling may correspondto use of ACK/NACK bundling whereas, the value multiplexing maycorrespond to ACK/NACK multiplexing. The same value may apply to bothACK/NACK feedback modes on PUCCH as well as on PUSCH.

The parameter PUCCH-ConfigDedicated may include simultaneous PUCCH-PUSCHparameter indicating whether simultaneous PUCCH and PUSCH transmissionsis configured. An E-UTRAN may configure this field for the PCell whenthe nonContiguousUL-RA-WithinCC-Info is set to supported in the band onwhich PCell is configured. The E-UTRAN may configure this field for thePSCell when the nonContiguousUL-RA-WithinCC-Info is set to supported inthe band on which PSCell is configured. The E-UTRAN may configure thisfield for the PUCCH SCell when the nonContiguousUL-RA-WithinCC-Info isset to supported in the band on which PUCCH SCell is configured.

A UE may transmit radio capabilities to an eNB to indicate whether UEsupport the configuration of PUCCH groups. The simultaneous PUCCH-PUSCHin the UE capability message may be applied to both a PCell and anSCell. Simultaneous PUCCH+PUSCH may be configured separately (usingseparate IEs) for a PCell and a PUCCH SCell. For example, a PCell and aPUCCH SCell may have different or the same configurations related tosimultaneous PUCCH+PUSCH.

The eNB may select the PUCCH SCell among current SCells or candidateSCells considering cell loading, carrier quality (e.g. using measurementreports), carrier configuration, and/or other parameters. From afunctionality perspective, a PUCCH Cell group management procedure mayinclude a PUCCH Cell group addition, a PUCCH cell group release, a PUCCHcell group change and/or a PUCCH cell group reconfiguration. The PUCCHcell group addition procedure may be used to add a secondary PUCCH cellgroup (e.g., to add PUCCH SCell and one or more SCells in the secondaryPUCCH cell group). In an example embodiment, cells may be released andadded employing one or more RRC messages. In another example embodiment,cells may be released employing a first RRC message and then addedemploying a second RRC messages.

SCells including PUCCH SCell may be in a deactivated state when they areconfigured. A PUCCH SCell may be activated after an RRC configurationprocedure by an activation MAC CE. An eNB may transmit a MAC CEactivation command to a UE. The UE may activate an SCell in response toreceiving the MAC CE activation command.

In example embodiments, a timer is running once it is started, until itis stopped or until it expires; otherwise it may not be running. A timercan be started if it is not running or restarted if it is running. Forexample, a timer may be started or restarted from its initial value.

LTE-Advanced introduced Carrier Aggregation (CA) in Release-10. InRelease-10 CA, the Primary Cell (PCell) is always activated. One or moreSecondary Cells (SCells) can be in activated or deactivated state. TheSCell activation/deactivation processes were introduced in Release-10 toachieve battery power savings. When an SCell is deactivated, the UE maystop receiving downlink signals and stop transmission on the SCell. InRelease-10 CA, the default state of an SCell is deactivated when theSCell has been configured/added. Additional activation procedureemploying MAC CE Activation Command may be needed to activate the SCell.SCells may be deactivated either by an activation/deactivation MAC CE orby the sCellDeactivationTimer. The UE and eNB maintain onesCellDeactivationTimer per SCell with a common value across SCells. eNBmaintains the activation/deactivation status of an SCell for a wirelessdevice.

In LTE-Advanced Release-12, Dual Connectivity (DC) was introduced. InDC, UE maintains connectivity to a Master eNB (MeNB) and a Secondary eNB(SeNB). Serving cells may be grouped into cell groups (CGs) such as amaster CG (MCG) and a secondary CG (SCG). The primary cell in MeNB iscalled PCell. A cell in SeNB is called PSCell. A PSCell may supportsimilar functions supported by a PCell, such as PUCCH, RACH, RLM, etc.If PSCell is deactivated, many processes may be impacted in SCG, e.g.RACH and PUCCH delivery. Therefore, in Release-12 DC, PSCell in SCG andPCell in MCG are kept in the activated state. In DC, theactivation/deactivation processes may be performed per CG and per eNB.Activation/deactivation related information may not be exchanged betweenMeNB and SeNB. With DC, the cells with PUCCH (e.g. PCell and PSCell) arealways in an activated state after they are configured. This process mayprevent the need for cross-eNB activation/deactivation.

Cells of an eNB may be grouped in multiple PUCCH groups, each having itsown PUCCH resources on a PUCCH SCell. An eNB configures PUCCH groups fora wireless device by transmitting RRC message(s) to the wireless device.Implementation of activation/deactivation processes for PUCCH SCell maypresent some issues, if Release-10 or 12 activation/deactivationprocesses are implemented. For example, it may be needed to implementmethods and systems to handle PUCCH transmissions when PUCCH SCell isdeactivated and one or more SCells in the corresponding PUCCH group arestill active. Novel PUCCH SCell activation/deactivation procedures maybe implemented when PUCCH SCell is configured. In addition, novel PUCCHSCell activation/deactivation procedures may be implemented to handlescenarios wherein PUCCH is deactivated.

PUCCH SCell may include many of the functionalities of the PSCell. Someof the issues related to deactivation of PUCCH SCell may be resolved ifPUCCH SCell is always kept active, like, PCell or PSCell in priorreleases of LTE-Advanced. Such a solution may increase battery powerconsumption in the UE since the UE has to always keep PUCCH SCellactivated after PUCCH SCell is configured.

Implementation of the same activation and deactivation processes forPUCCH SCell and PSCell in DC may result in an inefficientimplementation. To achieve battery power saving benefits similar to theexisting CA technology, it may be beneficial to enable deactivation ofthe PUCCH SCell. PUCCH SCell delivers uplink control information for theserving cells in the corresponding PUCCH cell group using its configuredPUCCH resources. When there is no need for PUCCH UCI delivery, e.g. whenother serving cells in the same PUCCH cell group are deactivated, thePUCCH SCell may be deactivated. Support for activation/deactivation ofPUCCH SCell may provide battery power saving benefits. There may be noneed to keep PUCCH SCell activated all the time, for example when thereis no data transmission on cells in the corresponding PUCCH group. APUCCH SCell deactivation procedure may introduce new implications forSCells that are in the corresponding PUCCH group. It may be beneficialto avoid or reduce situations where an active SCell may not have accessto an activated PUCCH SCell. It may be beneficial to develop systems andprocesses wherein the PUCCH SCell may be activated/deactivated to reducebattery power consumption in the UE. Implementations may consider thatthe PUCCH SCell carries control information related to other SCellswithin the corresponding PUCCH group.

Solutions may be provided in which PUCCH control information such asHARQ/CQI/SR may be sent on the PUCCH SCell even when the PUCCH SCell isdeactivated. Allowing transmission of the PUCCH control information on adeactivated PUCCH SCell may require that PUCCH SCell to be capable oftransmitting uplink signals when it is deactivated, or may requireactivation of PUCCH SCell when such transmissions are needed. Such asolution may to be too complex to implement and may require many changesto existing physical and MAC layer procedures and/or hardware. Partiallyactivating the PUCCH SCell for transmission of PUCCH control informationmay increase power consumption and transceiver complexity and may not bedesirable.

Example embodiments of the invention describe solutions that provideefficient systems and processes for PUCCH SCell activation/deactivationprocess in an LTE network, eNB and UE. The example embodiments provideefficient mechanisms for the network, eNB and UE to implement activationand deactivation processes for SCells. This may require enhancements toexisting eNB and UE processes. The embodiments may add additionalrequirements in eNB and UE implementations and may reduce battery powerconsumption, without adding too much complexity in eNB and UEimplementations.

In an example embodiment of the invention, if the MAC entity isconfigured with one or more SCells, the network may activate anddeactivate the configured SCells. The SpCell may always be activatedwhen it is configured. The network may activate and deactivate theSCell(s) by sending the Activation/Deactivation MAC control element.Furthermore, the MAC entity may maintain a sCellDeactivationTimer timerfor a configured SCell. The same initial timer value applies to aninstance of the sCellDeactivationTimer and it is configured by RRC. Theconfigured SCells may be initially deactivated upon addition and after ahandover.

In an example embodiment, when PUCCH SCell is configured by the RRClayer, the initial state of the PUCCH SCell may be a deactivated state.An eNB may activate a PUCCH SCell when it is needed by transmitting aMAC Activation CE. In an example embodiment, when PUCCH SCell isdeactivated, PUCCH resource configuration may be kept (and notreleased). The configuration of the corresponding PUCCH group may bemaintained while deactivating PUCCH SCell or other SCells in the PUCCHgroup. The re-activation of PUCCH transmission after a deactivation maynot require additional RRC reconfiguration procedure since RRCConfiguration of PUCCH SCell is retained when it is deactivated. In someembodiments, if the TAG including PUCCH SCell is expired, PUCCH may bereleased and RRC reconfiguration may be needed to reconfigure PUCCHresources on PUCCH SCell.

Example embodiments provide a novel mechanism solution for maintenanceof sCellDeactivationTimer and conditions for activations anddeactivation of PUCCH SCell.

In an example embodiment, UE maintains an sCellDeactivationTimer for anSCell e.g. PUCCH SCell or other SCells in a PUCCH cell group. The MACentity may for a TTI and for a configured SCell perform certainfunctions according the status of sCellDeactivationTimer and otheroperational parameters.

If the sCellDeactivationTimer associated with an activated SCell (e.g.PUCCH SCell or other SCells in a PUCCH cell group) expires in a TTI, inthe TTI (and according to a pre-defined timing), the UE may deactivatethe SCell; stop the sCellDeactivationTimer associated with the SCell;and flush HARQ buffers associated with the SCell.

For an activated SCell in a PUCCH Cell group, other than PUCCH SCell, ifPDCCH on the activated SCell indicates an uplink grant or downlinkassignment; or if PDCCH on the Serving Cell scheduling the activatedSCell indicates an uplink grant or a downlink assignment for theactivated SCell, the UE may restart the sCellDeactivationTimerassociated with the SCell.

For a PUCCH SCell in a PUCCH Cell group, if PDCCH on any activated SCellin the corresponding PUCCH cell group (including the PUCCH SCell)indicates an uplink grant or downlink assignment; or if PDCCH on theServing Cell scheduling any activated SCell in the corresponding PUCCHcell group indicates an uplink grant or a downlink assignment for theactivated SCell, the UE may restart the sCellDeactivationTimerassociated with the PUCCH SCell.

The implementation of this example sCellDeactivationTimer maintenancemay result in restarting the the sCellDeactivationTimer associated withthe PUCCH SCell, when PDCCH grants are received for any activated SCellin the corresponding PUCCH cell group. Such an sCellDeactivationTimermaintenance is simple to implement and may result in an efficientdeactivation mechanism for the PUCCH that results in lower battery powerconsumption in the UE and may reduce or prevent early deactivation ofPUCCH SCell.

An example implementation of this process is shown below. Otherequivalent implementation of the above process may also be possible.

If PDCCH on the activated SCell indicates an uplink grant or downlinkassignment; or if PDCCH on the Serving Cell scheduling the activatedSCell indicates an uplink grant or a downlink assignment for theactivated SCell; or if SCell is a PUCCH SCell and PDCCH on an activatedSCell in PUCCH cell group indicates an uplink grant or downlinkassignment: UE restarts the sCellDeactivationTimer associated with theSCell. In addition, one may conclude that if SCell is a PUCCH SCell andPDCCH on the Serving Cell scheduling an activated SCell in PUCCH cellgroup indicates an uplink grant or a downlink assignment for theactivated SCell: UE restarts the sCellDeactivationTimer associated withthe SCell. The last condition may be a redundant condition, when crosscarrier scheduling across PUCCH cell groups is not allowed.

FIG. 14 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. A wireless device receives at least one messagefrom a base station at 1410. The message(s) may comprise configurationparameters of a plurality of cells. The plurality of cells may comprisesecondary cell(s). The plurality of cells may be grouped into aplurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups. The PUCCHgroups may comprise a primary PUCCH group and/or a secondary PUCCHgroup. The primary PUCCH group may comprise a primary cell with aprimary PUCCH transmitted to the base station. The secondary PUCCH groupmay comprise a PUCCH secondary cell with a secondary PUCCH transmittedto the base station. The message(s) may also comprise a deactivationtimer value for a deactivation timer of the PUCCH secondary cell.

The message(s) may further comprise configuration parameters of thePUCCH resources of the PUCCH secondary cell. The message(s) may mapsecondary cell(s) to one of the primary PUCCH group and/or the secondaryPUCCH group.

At 1420, the deactivation timer of the PUCCH secondary cell may berestarted if: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on anysecondary cell in the secondary PUCCH group indicates an uplink grant ora downlink assignment, and/or the PDCCH on a cell scheduling anysecondary cell in the secondary PUCCH group indicates an uplink grantand/or a downlink assignment for any secondary cell in the secondaryPUCCH group. The PUCCH secondary cell may be deactivated at 1430 if thedeactivation timer expires.

According to an embodiment, the wireless device may maintainconfiguration of PUCCH resources of the PUCCH secondary cell when thePUCCH secondary cell is deactivated. According to an embodiment, thewireless device may transmit at least one of the following on the PUCCHsecondary cell: channel state information, positive acknowledgement andnegative acknowledgement, a scheduling request, a combination thereof,and/or the like.

According to an embodiment, cross carrier scheduling of a cell in theprimary PUCCH group may only be configurable for another cell in theprimary PUCCH group. In yet another embodiment, cross carrier schedulingof a cell in the secondary PUCCH group may be only configurable foranother cell in the secondary PUCCH group.

FIG. 15 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. A wireless device receives at least one messagefrom a base station at 1510. The message(s) may comprise configurationparameters of a plurality of cells. The plurality of cells may comprisesecondary cell(s). The plurality of cells may be grouped into aplurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups. The PUCCHgroups may comprise a primary PUCCH group and/or a secondary PUCCHgroup. The primary PUCCH group may comprise a primary cell with aprimary PUCCH transmitted to the base station. The secondary PUCCH groupmay comprise a PUCCH secondary cell with a secondary PUCCH transmittedto the base station. The message(s) may also comprise a deactivationtimer value for a deactivation timer of the PUCCH secondary cell.

The message(s) may further comprise configuration parameters of thePUCCH resources of the PUCCH secondary cell. The message(s) may mapsecondary cell(s) to one of the primary PUCCH group and/or the secondaryPUCCH group.

At 1520, the deactivation timer of the PUCCH secondary cell may berestarted if: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) on anysecondary cell in the secondary PUCCH group indicates an uplink grantand/or a downlink assignment. The PUCCH secondary cell may bedeactivated at 1530 if the deactivation timer expires.

According to an embodiment, the wireless device may maintainconfiguration of PUCCH resources of the PUCCH secondary cell when thePUCCH secondary cell is deactivated. According to an embodiment, thewireless device may transmit at least one of the following on the PUCCHsecondary cell: channel state information, positive acknowledgement andnegative acknowledgement, a scheduling request, a combination thereof,and/or the like.

According to an embodiment, cross carrier scheduling of a cell in theprimary PUCCH group may only be configurable for another cell in theprimary PUCCH group. In yet another embodiment, cross carrier schedulingof a cell in the secondary PUCCH group may be only configurable foranother cell in the secondary PUCCH group.

In this specification, “a” and “an” and similar phrases are to beinterpreted as “at least one” and “one or more.” In this specification,the term “may” is to be interpreted as “may, for example.” In otherwords, the term “may” is indicative that the phrase following the term“may” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities thatmay, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments.If A and B are sets and every element of A is also an element of B, A iscalled a subset of B. In this specification, only non-empty sets andsubsets are considered. For example, possible subsets of B={cell1,cell2} are: {can}, {cell2}, and {cell1, cell2}.

In this specification, parameters (Information elements: IEs) maycomprise one or more objects, and each of those objects may comprise oneor more other objects. For example, if parameter (IE) N comprisesparameter (IE) M, and parameter (IE) M comprises parameter (IE) K, andparameter (IE) K comprises parameter (information element) J, then, forexample, N comprises K, and N comprises J. In an example embodiment,when one or more messages comprise a plurality of parameters, it impliesthat a parameter in the plurality of parameters is in at least one ofthe one or more messages, but does not have to be in each of the one ormore messages.

Many of the elements described in the disclosed embodiments may beimplemented as modules. A module is defined here as an isolatableelement that performs a defined function and has a defined interface toother elements. The modules described in this disclosure may beimplemented in hardware, software in combination with hardware,firmware, wetware (i.e hardware with a biological element) or acombination thereof, all of which are behaviorally equivalent. Forexample, modules may be implemented as a software routine written in acomputer language configured to be executed by a hardware machine (suchas C, C++, Fortran, Java, Basic, Matlab or the like) or amodeling/simulation program such as Simulink, Stateflow, GNU Octave, orLabVIEWMathScript. Additionally, it may be possible to implement modulesusing physical hardware that incorporates discrete or programmableanalog, digital and/or quantum hardware. Examples of programmablehardware comprise: computers, microcontrollers, microprocessors,application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs); field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs); and complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs).Computers, microcontrollers and microprocessors are programmed usinglanguages such as assembly, C, C++ or the like. FPGAs, ASICs and CPLDsare often programmed using hardware description languages (HDL) such asVHSIC hardware description language (VHDL) or Verilog that configureconnections between internal hardware modules with lesser functionalityon a programmable device. Finally, it needs to be emphasized that theabove mentioned technologies are often used in combination to achievethe result of a functional module.

The disclosure of this patent document incorporates material which issubject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection tothe facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or thepatent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Officepatent file or records, for the limited purposes required by law, butotherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example, and notlimitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevantart(s) that various changes in form and detail can be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope. In fact, after reading theabove description, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevantart(s) how to implement alternative embodiments. Thus, the presentembodiments should not be limited by any of the above describedexemplary embodiments. In particular, it should be noted that, forexample purposes, the above explanation has focused on the example(s)using FDD communication systems. However, one skilled in the art willrecognize that embodiments of the invention may also be implemented in asystem comprising one or more TDD cells (e.g. frame structure 2 and/orframe structure 3-licensed assisted access). The disclosed methods andsystems may be implemented in wireless or wireline systems. The featuresof various embodiments presented in this invention may be combined. Oneor many features (method or system) of one embodiment may be implementedin other embodiments. Only a limited number of example combinations areshown to indicate to one skilled in the art the possibility of featuresthat may be combined in various embodiments to create enhancedtransmission and reception systems and methods.

In addition, it should be understood that any figures which highlightthe functionality and advantages, are presented for example purposesonly. The disclosed architecture is sufficiently flexible andconfigurable, such that it may be utilized in ways other than thatshown. For example, the actions listed in any flowchart may bere-ordered or only optionally used in some embodiments.

Further, the purpose of the Abstract of the Disclosure is to enable theU.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, andespecially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art whoare not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determinequickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of thetechnical disclosure of the application. The Abstract of the Disclosureis not intended to be limiting as to the scope in any way.

Finally, it is the applicant's intent that only claims that include theexpress language “means for” or “step for” be interpreted under 35U.S.C. 112, paragraph 6. Claims that do not expressly include the phrase“means for” or “step for” are not to be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wireless device comprising: one or moreprocessors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by theone or more processors, cause the wireless device to perform operationscomprising: receiving configuration parameters of cells grouped intophysical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups comprising a secondaryPUCCH group, the secondary PUCCH group comprising a PUCCH secondary cellwith a secondary PUCCH; restarting a deactivation timer of the PUCCHsecondary cell in response to a physical downlink control channel(PDCCH) on any secondary cell, other than the PUCCH secondary cell, inthe secondary PUCCH group indicating an uplink grant or a downlinkassignment; and deactivating the PUCCH secondary cell in response to thedeactivation timer expiring.
 2. The wireless device of claim 1, whereinthe operations further comprise maintaining configuration of PUCCHresources of the PUCCH secondary cell when the PUCCH secondary cell isdeactivated.
 3. The wireless device of claim 2, wherein the operationsfurther comprise transmitting on the PUCCH secondary cell at least oneof the following: channel state information; positive acknowledgementand negative acknowledgement; and a scheduling request.
 4. The wirelessdevice of claim 3, wherein the operations further comprise receiving amapping of each of a plurality of secondary cells to one of a primaryPUCCH group or the secondary PUCCH group.
 5. The wireless device ofclaim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving configurationparameters of PUCCH resources of the PUCCH secondary cell.
 6. Thewireless device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprisereceiving a mapping of each of a plurality of secondary cells to one ofa primary PUCCH group or the secondary PUCCH group.
 7. The wirelessdevice of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise transmittingon the PUCCH secondary cell at least one of the following: channel stateinformation; positive acknowledgement and negative acknowledgement; anda scheduling request.
 8. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein crosscarrier scheduling of a cell in a primary PUCCH group is onlyconfigurable for another cell in the primary PUCCH group.
 9. Thewireless device of claim 1, wherein cross carrier scheduling of a cellin the secondary PUCCH group is only configurable for another cell inthe secondary PUCCH group.
 10. The wireless device of claim 1, whereinthe operations further comprise receiving a deactivation timer value fora deactivation timer.
 11. A wireless device comprising: one or moreprocessors; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by theone or more processors, cause the wireless device to perform operationscomprising: receiving configuration parameters of cells grouped intophysical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups comprising a secondaryPUCCH group, the secondary PUCCH group comprising a PUCCH secondary cellwith a secondary PUCCH; restarting a deactivation timer of the PUCCHsecondary cell in response to a physical downlink control channel on acell, other than the PUCCH secondary cell, in the secondary PUCCH groupindicating an uplink grant or a downlink assignment for any secondarycell, other than the PUCCH secondary cell, in the secondary PUCCH group;and deactivating the PUCCH secondary cell in response to thedeactivation timer expiring.
 12. The wireless device of claim 11,wherein the operations further comprise maintaining configuration ofPUCCH resources of the PUCCH secondary cell when the PUCCH secondarycell is deactivated.
 13. The wireless device of claim 12, wherein theoperations further comprise transmitting on the PUCCH secondary cell atleast one of the following: channel state information; positiveacknowledgement and negative acknowledgement; and a scheduling request.14. The wireless device of claim 13, wherein the operations furthercomprise receiving a mapping of each of a plurality of secondary cellsto one of a primary PUCCH group or the secondary PUCCH group.
 15. Thewireless device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprisereceiving configuration parameters of PUCCH resources of the PUCCHsecondary cell.
 16. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein theoperations further comprise receiving a mapping of each of a pluralityof secondary cells to one of a primary PUCCH group or the secondaryPUCCH group.
 17. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein the operationsfurther comprise transmitting on the PUCCH secondary cell at least oneof the following: channel state information; positive acknowledgementand negative acknowledgement; and a scheduling request.
 18. The wirelessdevice of claim 11, wherein cross carrier scheduling of a cell in aprimary PUCCH group is only configurable for another cell in the primaryPUCCH group.
 19. The wireless device of claim 11, wherein cross carrierscheduling of a cell in the secondary PUCCH group is only configurablefor another cell in the secondary PUCCH group.
 20. The wireless deviceof claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise receiving adeactivation timer value for a deactivation timer.